Tech giant pledges to end mining and use recycled materials

Apple reportedly wants to sell up to 230 million new iPhones – with as many as 95 million in 2017 alone!

Sherri Watson
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21 April, 2017, 03:16

The news site noted that earlier this month Jefferies suggested Apple might consider buying Imagination Technologies, especially considering the decline in market value the company suffered after it was announce Apple would be cutting ties.

The report highlights the Apple Renew scheme to encourage customers to recycle their old devices, as well as Apple's piloting of "innovative new recycling technologies, like our line of disassembly robots, so we can put reclaimed materials to better use in new products".

Apple said it needs a higher grade than can be provided by standard recycling plants, and therefore can only get it from turning over its own products.

Supply chain sources toldDigiTimes that Apple had asked its Asian suppliers to build more than 50 million chips per quarter during the second half of this calendar year. And Jackson conceded that only a small amount of what's contained in an iPhone comes from recycled material.

"They also have control over how the products are designed", Greenpeace's Cook says, "and should be made with an eye toward making products easier to fix so they have a longer lifespan". Apple is likely looking to add more vendors to the mix, to make sure it has enough stock on hand, and that it can keep driving costs downwards.

It's no longer a secret that Apple is going to assemble its iPhones in India.

Apple has a lofty goal to stop relying on mining for the raw materials needed to make iPhones, iPads, and Macs.

The catch to these promises right now is that Apple doesn't have a plan for achieving these goals just yet. Apple acquired LuxVue, a US -based micro-LED display developer, in 2014 and has been developing the micro-LED technology and preparing for mass production since then.

KGI Securities senior analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said in a research note that Samsung's upcoming Galaxy Note 8 phablet would also feature a dual-camera system.